The Beginning
by Lsquared2
Summary: Prequel to Past Meets Present.


June

-Pony-

Functions are probably my least favorite part of my job, they are stuffy and boring and besides the open bar they pretty much suck. I'm thinking of ways to bail when something or rather somebody catches my eye. She's gorgeous, like drop dead traffic stopping gorgeous and she's heading in my direction. "I'm about to do something stupid Ty." Tyler looks up at me,

"Have fun." He calls, I grab my beer and strategically place myself directly in her path, not twenty seconds later she slams into me soaking both of us with her drink.

"Crap." She mutters.

"I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. Are you ok?" I ask. She looks up at me, she's even hotter up close. She's easily got the bluest eyes I've ever seen.

"I'm ok thank you." She pauses looking at the collateral damage on my suit, "I am really sorry about your suit." I shake my head thinking to myself this is one dry cleaner bill I will gladly pay,

"It's not a big deal." I tell her, I pause a second, "You teach here?" She smiles,

"I don't, I'm actually here for my dad." She pauses a second, "I'm Ryann." The name sounds familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.

"Ryann like the boy's name?" I ask by the expression on her face I know she's been asked this before,

"With an extra 'n', but yeah like the boy's name. It's a family name." She explains. She turns for a second and I take the moment to check her out. I smile at her,

"Well you are definitely not a boy." Her face flushes slightly, "I'm Pony Curtis." I say holding out my hand, she gives me a look.

"You're Sean's friend?" This takes me by surprise and slowly it hits me, I nod,

"Yeah. And you're Ryann, I mean obviously you are since you just told me that." Smooth I think to myself you sound like an idiot. "Sean's mentioned you a few times." He failed to mention how hot you are though, I think. She glances to her left and makes a face and I can tell that she's fully disgusted. I take a quick glance myself, all I see is some guy who a few minutes ago took some waitress into the bathroom. Obviously she knows him though. She sighs,

"I should get going, it was really nice to meet you."

"Yeah you too. Maybe I'll see you around." There's something in the way she's looking at me, and for a split second I think she may kiss me. Not that I would mind at all. She composes herself,

"Maybe." She replies coyly as she walks away meeting up with the bathroom guy and who I assume is her father. I groan Sean had failed to mention that her father is head of the Law School. I grab another beer and go back to my seat.

-One Week Later-

Since I'm not taking any classes and I'm only teaching one class twice a week for incoming Freshman who enrolled in the summer session I let Josh who is a friend who is cool to hang out with every once in a while talk me into going to Flannigans with him. Flannigans is the epitome of a dive bar, almost every time I've been there I've seen a bar fight. I wander away from Josh for a second and when I get back I am shocked to see who he is talking to. Ryann definitely doesn't look thrilled, I put my beer on the edge of the pool table and touch her arm.

"You know we keep meeting like this I'm going to think you're following me." I tell her. She had looked amazing all dressed up but she looks equally as good dressed in a Red Sox t-shirt and jeans. She smiles at me a real smile showing two perfect dimples a smile that turns my insides to liquid.

"Maybe you're following me." She replies, I can hear her perfectly but I want to get closer to her so I lean in till my lips are close to her ears. Soda swears it's the oldest trick in the book. She smells amazing.

"What was that?" I ask.

"I said maybe you're following me." She repeats.

"Maybe I am." I pause a second, "Are you leaving?"

"You two know each other?" Josh asks, I can't tell if he's confused or jealous, Josh has a bad temper one that I would prefer not to see tonight.

"We met at a faculty party the other night." I tell him. He shrugs and walks off to some blonde in a low cut shirt that's been hanging around us all night. "So are you leaving?" I ask her again. She shakes her head, strands of her dark hair falling out of the ponytail she has it in, I stuff my hands in my jeans pockets so I don't reach out and tuck them back behind her ear.

"No I was just going outside for some air." She says.

"By yourself?" I ask for some reason the protective thing kicks in. "Air sounds good I'll come with you." She looks taken back that I am even offering.

"I'm ok you don't have too." She insists.

"I'm sure your boyfriend wouldn't want you to go outside and get mugged." Ry laughs which surprises me a little,

"We actually broke up a day or so ago." She replies. "And even if we hadn't he wouldn't have cared."

"Then he's an ass." I pause, "I'd notice." The two of us get locked in a stare down for a few seconds, her face flushes ever so slightly.

"Alright you can come." She says. She doesn't have to ask me twice as I follow her through the bar and out a side door.

-Ryann-

I look at Sean over the top of my menu, he notices and puts his down. "Something you want to ask me Ryann?" He questions with a smirk on his face. Unfortunately Sean knows me all to well, despite being a few years older than Luke and I we spent a lot of time together while we were growing up. His mom and mine are both involved with the Historical Society and they both sit on the board for the Boston Public Library, needless to say the two of them are close. There have been a lot of Kelly/McKinley family vacations throughout the years.

"No. Why would you ask that?"

"Let's see you called and invited me for lunch. When does that happen?" I roll my eyes at him,

"We're friends. Can't I call a friend and invite him for lunch?" Sean laughs,

"There wasn't an off chance you were hoping I'd bring someone with me?" I feel my face flush completely giving myself a way, "He told me you two ran into each other again."

"Oh he did?" I ask innocently, "What did he say?" There is no way in hell I am going to admit to Sean that since our two chance meetings I can't get Pony out of my head and have currently began to think of ways to "accidentally" run into him again.

"That you two ran into each other again." I shoot Sean a dirty look as he cracks up, he composes himself long enough for the two of us to order.

"Funny Sean. So what can you tell me about him?" We had talked for about fifteen minutes that night outside the bar until Molly who has horrible timing had come stumbling out and I had to half-drag her back to the dorm. We had exchanged the normal basic information about ourselves but I find myself wanting to know more. Sean shakes his head,

"Not going to do it Ryann." He pauses a second as the waiter delivers our food, "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Pony. I am not going to be the in between between you guys. You two want to get to know each other you're going to have to hang out."

"He asked about me?" It comes out sounding an awful lot like a squeal and I fully realize I sound like a thirteen year old girl.

"Yeah he asked about you." Sean replies as he takes a bit of his burger, "He also mentioned you broke up with Wes, it's bout damn time. What happened and how has your dad not killed you yet?"

"Surprisingly Dad was all for it. He witnessed Wes taking that waitress in the bathroom the other night and was concerned how it was going to negatively impact him." At this point in time Dad is completely involved on becoming the next Harvard President, the current one is planning on retiring in a few years and mentioned that dad could possibly be in the running for it if he played his cards right. Right now he is watching all of us like hawks so we don't do anything to hurt his image. "So I was told breaking up with Wes was what was best for all of us, I tried my best to hide my joy." Sean chuckles,

"For once I agree with your dad's decision."

"Yeah me too." I reply, I pick through my salad for a second, "So you really won't help me out with seeing him again?" Sean sighs,

"I'll see what I can do." He says giving in. The two of us finish our lunch, pay the bill and head back into Cambridge.

Three Days Later

I've barely gotten back into the dorm room door before Molly starts talking, "Girl." She says breathlessly, "Chris has called for you about ten times."

"Yeah what did he want?" I ask, sitting down on my bed, tucking my tennis stuff underneath it.

"Something about Luke throwing a party and he wanted to know if you'd be there." I groan, I should have known. My parents are both out of town this week as is Uncle Mickey so besides Rosa who is my parent's housekeeper Luke and I have about zero supervision. And Luke obviously plans to take advantage of it. Molly yanks down her super short skirt, she's wearing an outfit that would give the girls down at the harbor a run for their money. "I'm going out tonight so don't stay here on my account." Molly is of the impression that the world revolves around her, I've yet to burst her bubble but I definitely see it coming soon.

"Don't worry I won't." She blows me an air kiss as she walks out the door as fast as her sky high heels will allow her. I think about it for about five minutes before I decide it's my civic duty to make sure no one burns my parent's house down. Luke's parties have the tendency to get out of control and fast, the police have been called on more than once occasion. I take a shower, fix my hair and makeup, get dressed and make the three block walk. By the time I get there the party is in full swing, I squeeze my way in the front door and scan the crowd for Luke. When I spot him I head in his direction,

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." Luke greets. "Chris has been looking for you all night." I internally groan. Chris is my high school boyfriend, ex boyfriend. We dated our junior and half of our senior year, he's supposed to be heading to Ohio for school but he keeps hinting that if I want he'll stay here and go to school in Boston. As far as I'm concerned he can't leave soon enough.

"Yeah I got his fifteen messages he left with Molly." Now don't get me wrong, Chris is a nice guy. Good looking, smart enough, comes from a good family, but he's boring. He's got the personality of a cardboard box. Luke shakes his head,

"If you want me to make him leave you alone just let me know." He tells me as his on and off again girlfriend Emma comes around my left side. I like Emma, but I'm not sure she knows that she's way more invested in the relationship then Luke is. She fully expects them to last while he's in Annapolis at the Naval Academy, I don't want to be the one to let her know that's probably not going to happen.

"Hey Ry." She greets me. "Tommy is picking a fight with some guy outside you should probably handle it." She tells Luke. He swears under his breath,

"Ry I'll catch up with you later. Don't leave without telling me." I fight the urge to roll my eyes at him, instead I nod. I grab a beer out of the fridge and wander out through the sliding glass door that leads to the pool.

"You really are following me aren't you?" I turn my head in the direction of the voice knowing good and well who it is.

"Maybe a little." I reply, I pause a minute. "Why are you here?" As far as I can tell it's mostly kids we just graduated with, with a few other people thrown in.

"Sean dragged me. He's convinced I need to get out instead of sitting at home thinking about you." My face instantly gets hot, and when I look up at him he's got a huge grin on his face. "And when he told me you'd most likely be here I figured it would be worth my while coming."

"Well I'm glad you did." I tell him.

"Yeah me too." He replies. The two of us find a relatively quiet spot by the pool and spend the rest of the night just talking. After we say our goodbyes I am almost shocked to realize how much I am already looking forward to seeing him again.


End file.
